Stuff Christians Like

I had two minutes to skim this book while in Barnes and Noble. I'm so excited to read it. I've grown up in the church and can say that I'm guilty of about 90% of these. I'll provide a list of some of my favorites below. I think the idea of "Stuff Christians Like" is brilliant. It reminds to me laugh at myself and reflect on why I'm really doing, saying, or acting a certain way. I love it. I'm going to pick up the book in a couple of weeks and I'm excited to do a book review! Check out a list of my favorites below. How many do you identify with?

#1. Putting a God spin on popular secular ideas.
#23. Tattoos for God
#34. Subtly finding out if you drink beer too.
#55. Getting a precise definition of virgin from your youth minister.
#71. Calling things “postmodern”
#80. Fixing things with “mo prayer.”
#96. Using God’s Favorite Word
#105. Wishing your testimony was more exciting
#106. The Side Hug
#121. Thinking God’s call will be long and detailed
#115. Kissing Dating Goodbye
#154. Breaking up after a retreat
#157. Testamints – Sending bad breath to hell
#188. Judging someone’s faith based on their Bible underlining.
#202. Thinking Vegas is slightly worse than hell
#231. Drinking Coffee in church.
#232. The magical power of denim
#252 Youth leader that makes everyone cry during games with his over competitiveness.

A Jesus Moment In A Restaurant

I was sitting in my booth and I overheard a conversation between two women. They have not seen each other in about six months and decided to meet up in the desert to have a "girls weekend." They sat down and began updating each other on everything that has been going on. As I listened in I realized that updating each other on life really means complaining about everything. Here is what I mean...

One women began talking about how her husband continually screws everything up around the house. She joked that he's a horrible husband and she she only stays with him because he brings home a lot of money which she can spend when she goes shopping with her friend. The other women jumped in with annoying habits that her co-worker has. They seemed to have found common ground about work because they hated what they did, hated the people they worked with because they were idiots, and hated the paycheck they received from it. They then started to complain about how Obama has screwed up the economy and how their 401k has taken a hit, and on and on and on they went.

I realized that I spent my whole lunch break listening in on their conversation and they complained the whole time. Then I had my Jesus moment. Ephesians 4:9 popped into my head - Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

I began to reflect on my life and realized that I too, can complain with the best of them. I have tried to take this week and be thankful for what the Lord has provided for me and my wife. We both have jobs, a paycheck, good health and friends. Is everything perfect? Of course not! But I have seriously tried not to be apart of conversations where people complain about other people. Having conversations that build people and benefit others who listen in is a difficult task. But, it is a necessary one. And for the times I find myself wanting to complain about someone, I have found that I better having actually talked to the person who frustrates me. This seems to talk care of the issue and we both benefit.

Complaining is a very easy thing to slide into. I wonder what goes through the mind of non-Christians when they know we're supposed to love our neighbor but all they hear us talk about is how inept they are and how we can't stand them.

Back to Basics

My dad didn't care much for basketball, but he loved legendary coach, John Wooden. He would always tell me stories of how successful he was as a coach and try to explain to me John's coaching principles. One of the stories my dad liked to tell was at the beginning of each season coach would sit down with his players and teach them the basics. He would walk out on to the field and explain to everyone on the team what a gym sock was and how to properly put it on your feet. John always said that if you don't put your socks on correctly you'll get blisters and you won't perform at your best. He would then go on to explain what a basketball was, how to properly lace your shoes, wear your uniform and then explain the rules of the game. He did this at the beginning of every season. Personally I thought this was a bit much and if I were a senior I'd get really frustrated with the first month of practice!

Another story that my dad liked to tell is how the coach new the strengths and weaknesses of every player. He know the personalities of everyone on his team. He knew that the best way to motivate one player was not necessarily the best way to encourage another player. He would scream and yell at some players and quietly walk over to another player and put his arm around him and give him a little pep talk. Growing up I thought this was unfair because I was probably the player getting yelled at and would get frustrated to watch another player screw up and not get yelled at. It just didn't make any sense to me.

I never really understood the importance of these principles until I began ministry. There are moments in ministry where you need to take a step back and start from the ground up. I love taking a Sunday morning to pause, hold my Bible up in the air and tell students, "This, is a Bible! there are rules and principles in here on how to live life. There are stories in here that will help you know who God is. And if you follow what is in here you will truly be living life, not just getting by." I once heard a story of a pastor who was always accused of not going "deep" enough in his sermons. He always talked about God and loving your neighbor. His response was brilliant. he said, "Every time we gather as a church I will teach about loving God and loving people, once we master that, we can move on to something "deeper." He was teaching the basics. Come to think of it, Jesus seemed to always be teaching basics.

I also learned from coach Wooden the importance of knowing your students. Every teenager that steps into our ministry has a different background and brings with them their own baggage. Teenagers don't respond the same as their peers do. So, conversations, teaching and discipleship must be done differently for every student.

As our ministry continues to grow I am making a conscience decision to always go back to the basics of sin, Jesus, and love. I'm taking time to learn more about my students and how to appropriately respond to them. And once we have mastered the basics of loving God and loving people we will move on to the other stuff.

Reflections of winter camp

Instead of telling all the amazing stories that happened up at winter camp I've decided to do bullet points of all the high lights. For all the details of the story ask your kids!

The BEST memories and experiences at camp!
1. Watching our students truly enter into worshiping God.
2. The Piano Kitty.
3. Late night conversations in the cabins.
4. Being snowed on!
5. Feeling the burdens of sin lifted off everyone's shoulders as they embraced God's forgiveness.
6. JUNK FOOD!
7. Not having to preach and run the weekend retreat!
8. The worship leader sounded like Eddie Vedder meets Scott Stapp. It was magical!
9. Piano Kitty.
10. Seeing old friends and developing deeper relationships with my students.
*BONUS*
11. Witnessing the spiritual growth and relational change in everyone from PULSE. Our youth group is turning into a family. Its exciting and encouraging.

Best Sex EVER Questions

I've just posted questions for parents to ask their high school students. It's my hope that these questions will be a starting point for a healthy dialogue between you and your family. Sex is an extremely important and relevant conversation that more and more families need to have with their kids. Click the lessons link in the column on the right for a copy of them.

Less is more

In Deliberate Simplicity, author Dave Browning discusses the less is more theory. He says that it applies to everything they do at their church, Christ the King Community Church. They focus solely on three things,

worship
small groups
outreach.

That's it!
He claims that churches are trying to be all things to all people. And in doing so churches struggle to do even a few ministries well. This is because the people on staff are stretched too thin, often working in ministries that they were not hired to work in, and because they are in charge of multiple ministries they find themselves working in areas where they simply are not talented in. This of course leads to burnout. Dave brings the discussion full circle by saying the church should focus on a few things they can do well, focusing on effectiveness rather than business.

I agree with most everything Dave writes about so far in his book. There are only a couple areas that I struggle with. Let me know what you think of them.

1. He suggests that church doctrine be minimal. Keep major things major and minor things minor. My question is, who decides what is major and what is minor? And how does one come to that conclusion? I think doctrine is important. My fear with a simple doctrine is that major things in scripture and slip and become minor.

2. He also explains that when people commit to God and to a church that it should be simple and fit conveniently in their life. I agree that church should not be over bearing. I have been part of churches that required so much of you it consumed your life and other ares of life, friends, family, hobbies, free-time, and vocation suffered. I think there is a fine balance between church being over complicated and over bearing and not requiring any sacrifice at all. Following Jesus has never conveniently fit into my life plan. There is sacrifice involved in living the Christian life. Church should be part of that. It should not be over whelming though. Practically I believe this looks different for every follower.

What do you think? What are the pros and cons of a deliberately simple church? Where does Desert Springs Church fit into all of this? How can we as a church improve?

life, sex and love

“A magazine poll of teenagers in 59 countries found that 99 percent of the American teenagers surveyed cited sex as the most important issue facing today’s youth.”
“According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control among high school students in the United States, 47 percent have had sexual intercourse before graduating. The good news is that this figure has declined steadily since 1991, when 54 percent of students admitted to having sexual intercourse.”

Culture expert, Walt Mueller goes on to explain that most experts and culture watchers indicate there is little attitudinal and behavior differences between Christian teenagers and their non-Christian peers.

Chap Clark strongly believes high school students are engaging in more and more sexual activity because they are trying to fill a void in their life. He says that teens have been systematically abandoned by adults, adult programs, adult agendas and the adult world. This no doubt leads to loneliness and a feeling of being ostracized by society. Reaching out sexually to peers is a temporary "love" fix. Much like a drug, high school students (even fourth and fifth graders) engage in sexual acts because for a moment they feel loved and accepted for who they are.

For the month of February Pulse will begin a new teaching series, Best Sex Ever! This four week series is based entirely on God’s Word and will address many of the common struggles teens have with sex, life, and love. Please continue to pray for our students.